Comedian Bill Cosby has warned black Americans to "stop looking for somebody to blame" and to confront the ills facing their communities.
Characterising his own words as "blunt, but not harsh", the 70-year-old actor yesterday criticised a culture in which "babies are wearing $40 sneakers while their mothers are feeding them Oodles of Noodles".
Cosby, who starred for many years in his own series, The Bill Cosby Show, and who has a doctorate in education, told several hundred people at a conference of community associations that some of his critics within the African-American community were "intellectual panhandlers" who enabled destructive behaviour by staying silent or blaming racism.
"You've got these idiots who've got these degrees and some of them are ordained ministers, and they say, 'Bill, you're picking on the poor'," hesaid.
He then drew laughs by adding: "Well, so did Jesus then. Jesus was always telling someone, 'Go ye'. Jesus was always telling people to go somewhere. And 'don't do this again or don't do that again'."
Cosby saved some of his most pointed words for radio stations that play music he called "pro-murder and anti-women".
He said adults were equally complicit if they failed to speak up.
"I haven't seen the demonstrations saying, 'I'm not allowing my children to listen to this'," he said. "It's killing us. We're not talking about it, and we're not beating it down."
The conference was hosted by Newark Now, an organisation formed by Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who called Cosby "a critical voice right now in the American context" and praised his willingness to speak out on social issues.
"This is a time for candour - we can't beat around the bush," Mr Booker said.
"We've got large percentages of our population that are underachieving. He's speaking to the heart of the matter."
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